Mission: Orihime Inoue
by Yue-to-Sakura
Summary: AU fic- Secret agent Ulquiorra Cifer and high school student Orihime Inoue's relationship began with a mission, bloomed in a prison, but will it become love, affection and devotion? Or will it become a destructive poison?
1. Introduction

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach or any of its characters. They all belong to Tite Kubo.

Anywho, off to the story we go!

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**Mission: Orihime Inoue**

**Introduction**

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Agent Ulquiorra Cifer, codenamed "Cuatro Espada", aged 21 years old, was Aizen Sosuke's the best. Any and all missions assigned to him always ended with flawless success. After all, the young man was very strong, remarkably intelligent, and what most would call "heartless". Although his face was hidden by a bone- like mask with horns to cover his identity during missions, as required to all of Aizen's agents, his voice was a deep, silky monotone that carried not a single bit of emotion that could prove his heart's existence. Thus, for those very reasons, the Cuatro Espada found himself faced with a very, very special mission of the greatest importance- **Mission: Orihime Inoue**. Standing a few meters in front of his boss, Aizen, who was sitting on his throne-like chair with his face propped up on one hand, Ulquiorra waited for further details on this mission.

"The mission is one of a kind that I believe only you can handle, Ulquiorra," Aizen told the Cuatro Espada, "Basically, the mission centers on a certain girl, from which the mission was named. Inoue Orihime."

The Cuatro Espada nodded his head slightly to show he was following his boss' explanation. Aizen smiled his trademark fatherly smile that never reached his eyes and then turned his head a little to the side and said, "Kaname, the screen please."

Kaname Tousen, a blind man who was one of the two superiors directly below Aizen, bowed his head a little and then proceeded in pressing a remote towards a screen that covered an entire wall in the meeting room. The screen came to life and started showing a series of pictures focused on a certain caramel brown haired high school student with violet-tinted grey eyes. Ulquiorra then assumed that this was the girl the mission was all about. But, what about her that was so important to be the center of an S-ranked mission and be assigned to him?

As if reading his thoughts, Aizen started to elaborate the contents of the mission, "Orihime Inoue carries something with her that would prove to be very useful in the upcoming war against Soul Society."

Ulquiorra remained silent and Aizen took that as a sign to continue. Aizen once again gestured to Tousen and the latter, for the second time, pressed a button on the remote. The screen, instead of showing pictures of the said "Orihime Inoue", zoomed in this time to something on her hair: two blue, hibiscus hairpins.

"These hairpins on her head are very special, Ulquiorra. They are actually a kind of technology that has very unique abilities, the exact nature of which I am not quite sure yet. It is known though that she can heal almost all kinds of injuries using those hairpins," Aizen expounded.

"Am I to kill her Aizen-sama?" asked the Cuatro Espada, speaking for the first time since he was called into the meeting room.

Aizen's smile widened, leaned forward from his chair, and replied, "On the contrary, my dear Cuatro Espada, I want you to make her fall in love with you."

Ulquiorra blinked once. Then twice. Then thrice. Did he just hear that right?

"Pardon, Aizen-sama?" Ulquiorra voiced out as if in confusion, although his voice was as emotionless as ever.

Aizen's smile widened even more before answering, "I want you to make Orihime Inoue fall in love with you. You see, only she can activate her hairpins. There was once a time that her hairpins were studied by Soul Society's 12th sector head, Mayuri Kurosutchi. However, he couldn't get a single information about the technology, since it was protected by a very complex, indecipherable code. By making her fall in love with you, she will use her technology willingly for you, and consequently, for us. Not only that, she is the glue of a band of teenagers with very interesting and high potential skills who are working for Soul Society."

With that said, Aizen paused and signalled Tousen yet again. Taking his cue, Tousen pressed another button on the remote. This time, the screen showed a picture of six teenagers wearing the Karakura High School uniform. Ulquiorra immediately recognized five of them. One, of course, was Orihime Inoue. The short, raven haired girl with lavender eyes was the Soul Society's 6th sector head, Byakuya Kuchiki's, sister, Rukia Kuchiki. The tattooed man with fiery red hair was the Soul Society's 6th second-in-command, Renji Abarai. The bluish-black haired male with blue eyes framed by glasses was undoubtedly one of the two known remaining Quincies, Ryuuken Ishida's son, Uryuu Ishida. Lastly, the man with a shock of spiky orange hair wearing a permafrown with his brown eyes was Ichigo Kurosaki, who has been quite the subject of Aizen-sama's interest for some time now. The dark-skinned male with wavy black hair was unknown but familiar looking to Ulquiorra. Upon sifting through all the information in his brain, he landed on a name: Sado Yasutora.

"Ulquiorra, if you are going to succeed in making Orihime Inoue fall in love with you, turmoil will be sent into the hearts and minds of her friends. This group of teens will then be faced in a dilemma on whether to address their friend first or help in the war against us," Aizen's voice snapped the Cuatro Espada out of his thoughts,

"In addition, there will be a possibility that Orihime Inoue will reveal some information to us either about her hairpins or the plans of Soul Society that will prove to be utterly useful. However, you are NOT to fall in love with the girl Ulquiorra. This is why I chose you to do this mission. Out of all your other fellow Espadas, you are the only one whose emotions never get on the way… Can I trust you with this, my Cuatro Espada?"

Although still a bit disoriented at the predicament of the mission, Ulquiorra nodded and replied, "Yes, Aizen-sama". Being the smart person Ulquiorra was, he knew it was wise to just follow Aizen's orders. Aizen was a very dangerous and cunning man. To assure a continued existence, the best decision was to stay on his good side.

"Very good. Kaname, the folder," declared Aizen.

At Aizen's words, Kaname produced a white folder and handed it over to Ulquiorra. The Cuatro Espada took it wordlessly.

"The folder contains all other information and details about the mission. Read it and by Monday, you are to start it," Aizen instructed Ulquiorra.

"I understand, Aizen-sama," Ulquiorra responded.

"Very well then, you are dismissed," said Aizen.

Ulquiorra nodded and left the room, one hand in his pockets and the other holding the folder. Heading directly towards his quarters, Ulquiorra's mind processed the main objectives of his current mission: Make someone fall in love but don't fall in love in return. To him, the "don't fall in love" part was fairly easy. Not once in his life has he felt anything towards another. After all, he was the embodiment of nihilism- the things reflected in his eyes held no meaning and the things that are not reflected in his eyes did not exist. True to fact, his eyes don't reflect anything. Not even Aizen. However, the "make someone fall in love" part was a very foreign, and admittedly tricky and hard part. He never once felt the need to do such a thing and thus was clueless on what to do.

Entering the elevator that only works when he swipes his card key and would lead only to his wing in Las Noches, their base, Ulquiorra's mind played with the steps he must follow to ensure the success of his mission. First and foremost, he must have a cover identity and then determine how he and the woman will meet. He was absolutely sure that such details were in the folder Aizen-sama has given him. Next, he must know some information about the woman about the things she likes and such in order to formulate a course of action that will ensure her trust. He was, once again, 100% sure that such information are available in the folder. Then, once he gained her trust, he must somehow make the woman fall in love with him. He was not sure how he was going to do it, but he was certain that there might be some information on how to make someone fall in love with you in some books and in the internet.

When he arrived at that thought, the elevator's door opened to what seemed to be another world inside the building of Las Noches. Each of the Espada's wings was designed to be that way so as to be as likeable to the Espada as possible. The ceiling in Ulquiorra's wing was quite high and was designed to be an artificial night sky, complete with the stars and a moon that was in a backwards crescent phase. The floor consisted of white sand. Dotting the seemingly white desert landscape of his wing were quartz trees. On the far left, his "villa" stood. The villa was just like the rest in color: white. Its architecture was Gothic era in style, a mixture of both the Flamboyant and the Perpendicular styles, and had perfectly balanced proportions. It was three-story high and had tall lancet windows which were surmounted by a Rayonnant Gothic period rose window on the front façade of the villa.

Ulquiorra headed to his villa. Like the outer, the interior was themed in the Gothic era, although with some incorporation of modern styles to accommodate the high tech appliances he had. Upon entering, he immediately headed to his room, the master bedroom found on the third floor. Not wanting to waste some time, he used the elevator, which was camouflaged in the wall since it was designed to be like a secret passageway that can be seen in the castles in movies, to get to the third floor instead of using the stairs.

Upon entering his room, he sat on the edge of his curtained, king-sized four poster bed, which had black and emerald-themed sheets and pillow cases, and began reading the contents of the mission files in the folder.

As expected, he found the information he needed about the woman, a.k.a. Orihime Inoue. With one look, he has memorized all of the data about her. Moving on the next page, he stumbled upon the specifics of his mission and his cover identity, making his eyes widen very, very slightly.

He was to enter the same school and class as the woman. He was going to be using his real name, Ulquiorra Cifer, for the first time in his all of his assignments and almost all of his actual background, except for the fact that he was a secret agent of Hueco Mundo under Aizen Sosuke and his real age. Regaining his composure, Ulquiorra continued reading the last few pages in the folder.

Afterwards, he paused for a few moments for his brain to formulate his plans for the task at hand. He was to be a high school student in a co-ed, public school where some secret agents from Soul Society were also undercover. Will he be able to accomplish this mission?

Standing up from his bed, he removed his mask, placed it on his bedside table and then went to his bathroom. The moment he entered it, he was greeted by the sight of his face. An impassive, angular, young- looking male's deadly pale face framed by inky black, naturally unruly hair with some strands falling over the nose, and with teal tear streak lines flowing down from vivid green eyes, a tad bit thick eyebrows, and black lips stared back at him from the mirror.

Ulquiorra blinked at his reflection. He can pass of as a 16- year old high school student; there was no doubt about that. But that was only a minor part of the mission that he has to comply to. The major parts were to make Orihime Inoue fall in love with him whilst avoiding gathering unwanted attention from the Soul Society undercover agents. Can he pull it off?

Ulquiorra closed his eyes to gather his thoughts. After a while, he opened them, cast one glance at his reflection, and proceeded on taking a shower. As Ulquiorra relaxed at the feel of the hot water running down his body, soothing his muscles, he could only think of one thing: This mission wasn't a matter of can or can't. He SHOULD and WILL end the mission with success. After all, he was Ulquiorra Cifer, the Cuatro Espada.

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_A/N: Just a random thing from my random fangirl mind... XDDD I hope you enjoyed reading! Reviews containing criticisms (constructive or destructive), suggestions for the story, comments about the chapter, etc. etc. will truly be appreciated (They give me some inspiration to write too) :)))) Messages will be welcomed with more than open arms too :D _

_Anywho, I sincerely thank you for taking the time reading this! ^_^ Have a good day!_


	2. Chapter 1: The Uncalled for Meeting

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach nor any of its characters. They're Tite Kubo's.

Moving on... onwards with the story!

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**Mission: Orihime Inoue**

**Chapter 1: The Uncalled for Meeting**

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It was one of those days again. Those days that Orihime wanted nothing else but to hide in a hole and cry until her eyes were dry. Her morning started out as bright like any other, until she saw it…

She was heading to school, chewing a toast with red bean paste along the way, when she heard merry laughter of a male and a female ahead of her. She recognized the voices of course. They were owned by one of her best friends, Rukia, and the love of her life, Ichigo. At the prospect of seeing her beloved, Orihime walked brusquely to the source of the voices. However, she later regretted doing so.

Orihime opened her mouth, about to greet the two a bubbly "Ohayo!" when she stumbled upon the sight of Ichigo and Rukia sharing a kiss. Her voice got caught in her throat, and silently, she slinked away. The moment Orihime was out of sight and earshot, her grip on her half-eaten toast loosened. Her food hit the ground and at the same time, her feet started a mad dash towards the school using an alternate, less used and longer route.

She already knew something was going on between Ichigo and Rukia, but it hurt more than possible seeing them the way she found them earlier. It already pained her just thinking about how close the two seemed to be, what more now that she saw them kissing?

The image burned in her mind, painstakingly tearing her heart to pieces at a very slow pace as if to let Orihime savor each wave of rejection. The back of her eyes were already stinging with unshed tears that were simultaneously clouding her vision. She sped up her run, as if trying to run away from the picture of her best friend and the love of her life kissing. She was almost there. Almost to the finish line of forgetting the memory, when all of a sudden, a hard tug at her wrist and the abrupt impact of hitting something solid prevented her from doing so and caused her to falter. The floodgates of her tears opened. The crystalline, salty liquid flowed down her face in a mad dash. Orihime Inoue broke down.

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Ulquiorra was on his way to Karakura High using a less travelled route, reading a book entitled "101 Ways to Make Someone Fall in Love with You", when he heard the sound of hurried, uneven footsteps. Being the secret agent he was, he flexibly turned to the source of the noise as he slipped the book in his school bag and readied himself for anything - enemies following him and the likes.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The footsteps were getting nearer and nearer. Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes, his hand at his sides, ready to attack.

Tap.

A figure dashed out of an intersection. Caramel brown hair. The Karakura High uniform. The flower hairpins. Ulquiorra's eyes widened slightly as he was met with the sight of his mission, Orihime Inoue, in all her teary-eyed glory. Not knowing what to do, he could only watch as the woman ran blindly, not noticing that she was running towards the open street where a speeding truck was driving down.

"Damn," the curse flew uncharacteristically out of Ulquiorra's mouth as he ran after the woman. He was not going to let her die. He still had a mission to finish. Using his reflexes, he grabbed the woman's wrist and roughly pulled her towards his chest, barely saving her from getting hit by the truck.

With that life-and-death problem solved, another one faced him. The moment the woman came in contact with his chest, he felt his chest getting damp every second that passed thanks to, undoubtedly, tears. Indeed, the woman's shoulders were trembling from the wreck of sobs that passed her form.

Ulquiorra, never before having been in such a position, was at a loss on what to do. Here was the woman he of his mission, crying for a reason he did not know. Crying. Ulquiorra thought back on the things he read about crying girls and found a suitable course of action: Comfort her.

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"Why are you crying woman?" a deep, silky, monotonous male voice shocked Orihime back to reality.

Jumping backwards in surprise, Orihime found herself crying in the arms of a stranger wearing the male uniform of her school. The stranger was a guy, of course, who was quite pale with a somewhat unruly hair that was blacker than the hair of others she knew and had the most vivid green eyes she's ever seen. Immediately, blood rushed to her cheeks and she started stepping away from the stranger. However, when she started backing away, the stranger shot out a hand and grabbed her wrist, pulling her closer to him.

"Wha- What are you doing?!" exclaimed Orihime.

"What do you think you were about to do? I'm not going to take the risk of you getting hit by another truck," replied the stranger.

As if to prove the stranger's words, Orihime felt a rush of wind pass by her back along with the sound of tires. Turning her head, Orihime indeed saw a speeding truck just pass by her. Orihime gulped and faced the stranger.

"I.. um… Thanks.. for saving me.." Orihime said, looking down at the ground.

The stranger let go of her wrist and replied, "It was nothing. You should watch where you are going next."

Orihime let out a nervous chuckle and responded, "You're right…"

"Why were you crying?" the stranger asked out of the blue.

Orihime stiffened. She then wiped her tears away, looked up at the stranger and smiled, "It's nothing.."

The stranger looked at her disbelievingly but said nothing else. An awkward silence hung in the air. Not being able to take it, Orihime shifted her weight on her feet and then said, "I'm Orihime Inoue.. You are?"

"Ulquiorra Cifer," answered the stranger.

"Well then, Cifer-san," Orihime declared cheerfully, "We better start walking now or we'll be late to school!" Upon saying that, she then checked her watch.. Only to find out that only 5 minutes was left before class starts.

Without preamble, Orihime let out a surprised yelp, grabbed Ulquiorra's hand and started running towards the direction of Karakura High, effectively dragging along her surprised savior.

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As Ulquiorra and Orihime ran towards the school, the former couldn't help but stare at the latter's hand that was holding his with mild, concealed surprise. Ulquiorra was not used to other people touching him. All the more, this was the first time somebody willingly took his hand and had the guts to drag him along while running.

Moving his gaze from their entwined hands to the back of Orihime's head, Ulquiorra's brain was trying to process the situation. Here was the woman of his mission, dragging him towards school, catching him in complete surprise. HIM - Aizen Sosuke's Cuatro Espada, the best of all of Hueco Mundo's secret agents.

It would seem, Ulquiorra's brain concluded, that his mission was going to be even more difficult than he initially thought for several of reasons. One, the woman was unpredictable. One minute she was crying, the next she was smiling despite the fact that she was almost hit by a truck due to her clumsiness, and then, she was dragging him towards school. Two, the woman's clumsiness would pose as a problem. She would constantly be attracting accidents that may become life-threatening towards herself, just as what he saved her from a while ago. Thus, he will be forced to show his moves and might consequently attract unwanted attention and suspicion to his self. Three, he was admittedly confused as to what he should do and how he should act around the woman.

"You are a strange human, woman," Ulquiorra thought out loud, his mind formulating a new set of plans to make her fall in love with him. Their uncalled for meeting put a hitch to his already organized plans and thus he needed new ones. The first step of his plan this time around would be to understand Orihime Inoue. That way, he would be able to predict her next moves and reactions. That way, he will surely be able to come up with the best course of action to take to accomplish his mission.

Ulquiorra was quite aware though of the fact that not everything goes as planned. And basing from his recent interaction with Orihime Inoue, he had a feeling that around her, almost everything won't go as planned.

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_A/N: Pretty short... but that's it with Chapter 1 minna-san! I hope you enjoyed reading and thank you very much for taking the time to read this story! :DDD Reviews will totally be appreciated (They give me some inspiration to continue writing XDD ) :)))) If you have suggestions and the likes, feel free to tell me so that I can add them to the story ^_^_

_Once again, thank you very much for reading and have a good day! ^_^_


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